Manchester United -- arguably the most popular sports franchise in the world -- will arrive on the shores of Seattle tomorrow to start a four-city, two-week tour through the United States.

Seventy-thousand screaming soccer fans -- some coming from as far as London and New York -- will descend upon Seattle with painted faces, banging drums and all of the splendor of a European football match. Local hotels, bars and shops are bracing for the impact.

The George & Dragon Pub, Seattle's unofficial soccer headquarters, expects 400 to 500 revelers tomorrow for an all-day party that will include members of Manchester United's New York fan club. Pyramid Brewery will open its beer garden two hours before kickoff. And The Best Western Pioneer Square Hotel has been sold out for weeks.

At Fado Irish Pub on First Avenue, the party has already started with ticket raffles and other activities. General manager Dermot O'Toole, who erected a large Manchester United banner on the pub's facade, expects capacity crowds tonight and tomorrow. He ordered 40 additional kegs of beer, including 20 barrels of Guinness. Them Blokes, a British pop band, is booked for tomorrow night. [Note: The band's name has been corrected since this article was originally published.]

"It is going to be something of a party after the game on Tuesday for sure," O'Toole said.

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Tomorrow's party will be fun. But the key question for Manchester United is whether the world's wealthiest and most popular soccer team can make the festivities last in the United States beyond a summer fling.

At stake is much more than a few friendly matches against Glasgow Celtic of Scotland, Juventus of Italy and FC Barcelona of Spain.

Manchester United, a publicly traded company with revenue of $233 million last year, wants to score in the States.

With about 53 million supporters worldwide, the Red Devils already have established a loyal fan base, a valuable global brand and a business empire that stretches from Singapore to the United Kingdom.

But like all publicly traded companies, Manchester United -- which has won England's Premier League eight of the past 11 years -- is looking to grow. The United States, long considered a soccer backwater, may be the next frontier for a club that often draws comparisons to the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Lakers.

And why not? American sports teams are doing the same thing by exporting their brands to Europe and Asia with exhibition games, player acquisitions and television deals. Globalization, after all, does not exclude professional sports.

"Can we generate enough interest to actually take revenue from our activities in (the U.S.) market?" asked Manchester United marketing director Peter Draper. "We anticipate that would be the case over time."

Judging by ticket sales to Manchester United's summer tour, there appears to be an appetite for world-class soccer in this country. Tickets for the Manchester United-Celtic match, a marquee matchup that brings together two storied teams of European soccer, began selling briskly as soon as they went on sale in March. Fewer than 1,000 remained last night.

Manchester United's recent signing of American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who will not be in Seattle, could help lure fans.

So could the exposure from the surprise hit movie "Bend It Like Beckham," although star midfielder David Beckham, namesake of the movie, was traded to Real Madrid last month in a $41 million deal.

But those are minor ripples in a vast sports ocean.

The United States, which boasts the NBA, MLB, the NFL, NASCAR, the PGA and other professional leagues, already is oversaturated when it comes to sports.

"This tour will test the waters," said Jeff Bliss, the former chief marketing officer at World Cup 94 and president of the Javelin Group. "This is a very difficult market to break into, and no matter where you live, there are always 50 sports events going on."

It has been 21 years since Manchester United last played on American soil -- losing 3-0 in the Kingdome to the Seattle Sounders. But much has changed since 1982. For one, the club is now a financial juggernaut with 80 percent of its fans located outside the United Kingdom. In addition to fielding one of the strongest teams in the world, Man U offers a dizzying array of goods and services.

Credit cards, mortgages, car loans, Internet service, travel plans and cell-phone ring tones are just a few. It also sells an assortment of merchandise emblazoned with the Man U logo. Manchester United cafes in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, keep Asian fans well-fed while entertaining them with highlights and memorabilia.

That's not to mention the team's endorsement deals, including a partnership with Nike that spans 13 years and is valued at $503 million. Nor does it mention the team's lucrative broadcasting arm.

"We are a huge brand with a small business," Draper said, adding that the team is looking at ways to drive more revenues from its fan base.

Manchester United's success can all be traced back to the fans. People such as Declan Walsh, a 28-year-old printer at a London newspaper who traveled 20 hours and 4,800 miles for tomorrow's game. Walsh, who has followed Man U since the age of 6, remembers his dad telling him stories of legendary striker George Best, who played for Manchester United in the 1960s and '70s.

"They are the best thing in the world, really," Walsh said, explaining his love for the team. Even though the Beckham trade was disheartening, Walsh would never consider switching his allegiance. Once a Red Devil, always a Red Devil.

Hard-core Manchester United fans already exist in the United States, primarily consisting of British expatriates and former college players. But at this time there just aren't enough of those fans -- most of whom cram into soccer pubs on game days -- to create a critical mass market.

That's part of what Manchester United's summer tour is about, making better connections with American fans and tapping a new customer that may not be familiar with the team.

Whether Manchester United can make deeper inroads here remains to be seen. Attempts to create a professional soccer league have sputtered in the past, and many Americans who grew up playing the sport don't particularly like to watch it.

But Bliss, who has followed the team for 20 years, thinks Manchester United could succeed if it routinely holds exhibition matches in United States, finds a broadcast partner, conducts youth training camps and aggressively sells its merchandise.

"I do think there is an opportunity here, if it is done correctly, and I think they are taking the right path to get started," Bliss said. "But they also need to rely on their sponsors, the Nikes and Anheuser-Busches and Pepsis of the world to help them with this. They are experts in brands."

Manchester United is not trying to force the game down the throats of Americans. Instead, it is taking a much slower and deliberate approach.

"It is a long-term proposition for us, because if we attract people to become fans of Manchester United, it is not like a lot of other businesses," Draper said. "It is a fan for life."

Instead of touring through 10 or 20 cities this summer, the team identified certain geographic strongholds. Seattle and Los Angeles on the West Coast. New York and Philadelphia on the East Coast. Tickets to all of the games have sold well.

"Come the day that we leave Philadelphia, hundreds of thousands of people in Texas will have never heard of us," Draper conceded. "Are we disappointed in that? Yeah, of course. But ... we are realistic about what we can do in a short space of time. And this needs to be built."